The Lyfe Magazine - November 2017

St ar-Spangled Prot est s
by Christian Mericle
?O say does that Star - Spangled Banner yet wave
// o?er the land of the free and the home of the
brave??
These words are from ?The Star-Spangled
Banner,? the national anthem of the United
States of America. The song is based on the
poem ?Defence of Fort M'Henry,? written by
thirty-five-year-old attorney Francis Scott Key on
September 14, 1814.
According to Title 36 § 301 of the United States
Code, certain conduct is required during the
playing of the anthem. When the song is played,
those in the Armed Forces and veterans should
hold a salute during the entirety of the music.
Everyone else should stand at attention, facing
the flag (or the source of the music if a flag is not
present), with their right hand over the heart.
However, there is currently a movement among
many in professional sports to disobey this
mandate. While there have been anthem-related
protests in the past, the current movement
began on August 14, 2016, when Colin
Kaepernick, who was at that time the starting
quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the
National Football League (NFL), knelt on one
knee during the playing of ?The Star-Spangled
Banner.? By September 1, he was joined by other
teammates. Within weeks, NFL players from
other teams and athletes from other sports,
including Megan Rapinoe of the United States
women?s national soccer team, took up the
protest.
Fast forward a year to September 22, 2017.
President Donald J. Trump, a former owner of the
New Jersey Generals of the short-lived NFL rival,
United States Football League, enters the fray. In
a speech, he criticizes those taking a knee and
encourages team owner to dismiss such players
from the team. In reaction to the speech and in a
show of solidarity with protesting athletes,
players kneeled, linked arms, and even stayed in
the locker room during the playing of the song.
The question among many of those who oppose
the protest isn?t, ?What are they protesting?? It?s
?Why do these well-paid athletes disrespect
America, disrespect those who fought and died
for this country?? This misframes the issue and
detracts from its message. This has never been
about disrespecting the United States. This has
always been about shining a light on injustices
and inequalities directed at African Americans
and other minorities. In fact, there have been
active duty military personnel and veterans who
have come out in defense of the protestors.
The American ideal of equality has always been
unfulfilled. ?We hold these truths to be
self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain
unalienable Rights which among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.? When
these words were written in the Declaration of
Independence, slavery was a rampant evil in the
United States. When Key penned ?The
Star-Spangled Banner? in 1814, the Emancipation
Proclamation was still nearly fifty years away.
While the words in the Declaration of
Independence and ?The Star-Spangled Banner?
are noble ones, they are more goals than reality.
These goals can only become reality, we can only
see true equality when people challenge the
status quo when they have a message of justice
and refuse to be silent. While things are better
than they once were, those seeking true equality
will not rest until better is replaced with best. As
Martin Luther King Jr. said, ?The arc of the moral
universe is long, but it bends toward justice.?
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